For the first time in over a decade, Deerfield Academy hosted the International Independent Schools’ Public Speaking Competition. From Thursday, October 20, 2022, to Sunday, October 23, 2022, Deerfield welcomed students from around the world, with a total of 110 speakers from seven countries.
Justin Ahn ’24, Isaac Bakare ’24, and Lily Pierce ’25 represented Deerfield, each competing in three events. Ahn and Pierce both placed second in individual events, and Pierce qualified for the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships in the spring, to represent the United States. The Championship will take place in Durban, South Africa.
Beginning as a competition for Canadian schools, organized by John Aimers in 1982, the IISPSC became an annual event, eventually incorporating non-Canadian schools, with many different members hosting the competition over the years. The last time Deerfield hosted the competition was in 2008.
With over a hundred students, along with coaches, judges, and audience members, Deerfield Academy had to get creative with utilizing its space. Deerfield used the Garonzik Auditorium in the Koch Center for briefings and debriefings, along with attendance. For meals, and later awards, competitors and coaches used the Kravis Gym in the Athletic Center. In terms of the actual speech and debate events, Deerfield utilized classrooms and spaces throughout the three floors of Koch Center.
The competition had four categories, each with multiple events. Each student participated in three events, all from different categories. Pierce competed in Dramatic Interpretation, which is a five to twelve minute monologue, Radio Newscast, a four minute newscast based on a newspaper, and Impromptu Speaking, which is a three to five minute speech based on a topic. Pierce competed in Dramatic Interpretation and Radio Newscast for the first time, and actually placed second overall for Dramatic Interpretation.
As it was only her second in-person public speaking event, Pierce described some challenges for her, explaining, “I think there were certainly moments where I got in my own head and feeling really intimidating, I kind of doubted if I was supposed to be there.”
However, she felt very supported by not only her fellow Deerfield competitors, Ahn and Bakare, but also by Language Teacher Daniel Houston, who is the Speech and Debate coach. Dr. Houston allowed her, along with Ahn and Bakare, to choose the events they felt most comfortable with, and also helped them prepare.
When explaining the overwhelming amount of support she received, Pierce said, “[Dr. Houston] still supported us and helped us prepare, but he also gave us a lot of freedom over what events we wanted to do and what pieces we wanted to prepare ahead of time. So I’m really grateful for him and his support and his leadership.”
Despite so many people contributing to the success of the event, when actually competing, the only people in the room were two to three judges, a few other competitors, and occasionally spectators, who were coaches, or teachers and students from Deerfield. Although the Deerfield community was supportive, Pierce stated that she also felt comfortable around her competitors, saying, “Everyone was really encouraging and I remember whenever we would step outside of the room for the judges to debrief, everyone would…pat each other on the back and support each other and compliment each other.”
The IISPSC website states that the competition “has been embraced for its ability to promote friendship among students and coaches across continents as well as for the learning experience inherent in the events.” Pierce agreed, as she said learned a lot from “competing amongst such talented and intelligent people.”
Pierce shared, “Everyone I was competing with was basically like, some of the best people internationally and just really intelligent people. And so getting to work with them and become friends with them and hear their perspectives and their diligence…It was just a really inspiring experience. And I learned so much from everyone.”
Not only did Pierce get the experience of meeting new people, but she also qualified for the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships, which will be held in South Africa. Judges scored her for each of her events, and her total score was within the top five of the American students, earning her a spot at Worlds. She is the first student from Deerfield to qualify since 2018.
The World Championships will be held from March 26, 2023, to April 2, 2023. As of now, Pierce will be Deerfield’s only representative, and will be traveling along with Dr. Houston. Although she is looking forward to the opportunity, Pierce expressed her doubts when she said, “But I am a little bit nervous to be submerged in such a different place in South Africa with people from all around the world, but I will, I think, feel really supported once I’m there.”
Looking forward, Pierce believes that this experience has benefitted her, and taught her many things, saying, “I would know what more to expect. I would know how to prepare better. And I’ll definitely be using a lot of the insight that I gained this past weekend. In my upcoming experience of the world championships.”
Although a lot of elaborate planning on Deerfield’s part went into hosting the IISPSC, as it was a big operation, the event went smoothly, allowing students and coaches from independent schools all around the world to come together, and bond over a shared love for public speaking.